Marvin OnumonuResearch from LACE Partners found that 40% of senior business leaders wanted C-suite teams to work more closely together, as a lack of alignment was slowing people transformation.
The study found two-thirds (66%) of chief people officers (CPOs) said they were leading transformation, and 80% of CEOs agreed their CPO was as influential as other senior executives.
However, only 36% of CFOs and 32% of COOs agreed, showing there was a disconnect.
Research also found that CFOs and COOs often viewed HR as underfunded, reactive or not clearly linked to business outcomes.
30% of CFOs said they wanted better collaboration with HR, and one in three CTOs said HR was still too siloed to lead transformation.
Most CEOs and CPOs reported strong alignment between people strategy and business goals, but this often failed to work in practice due to resourcing, issues with priorities, and poor connection between teams.
Aaron Alburey, founder at LACE Partners, said: “From our work, and now substantiated by research, we know that HR is taking a greater strategic role in shaping business change.
“However, in many companies, HR leaders are still brought into transformation projects at the planning or execution stage, well after key decisions have been made.
“Whilst there’s a growing appetite for people-driven transformations to increase ROI, without genuine cross-functional collaboration, many initiatives will stall even before the implementation stage.”
Simon Walsh, CEO at OneAdvanced, said: “If the CEO treats HR as an administrative function, then HR probably doesn’t get to play a role in transformation.
“However, any transformation, whether its systems and tools, market segments or geographic entry, is entirely predicated on the people that deliver it.
“You can make systems and process changes, but they mean nothing if people are stuck in old ways of working.”
Walsh added: “You can enter a new market, but it won’t deliver if people aren’t skilled, equipped and metriced to serve the new agenda.
“The CEO, the CPO and the CFO are a triumvirate. We do a daily stand-up (a key actions today meeting) to explore and understand any change we are undertaking.
“The CPO is like a sparring partner to ascertain the magnitude of the people change in any transformation, although they aren’t the sole voice on the people’s perspective.
“We believe that the CPO is an absolute equal in every single aspect of the business.”
